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ORPHAN OF RATHLIN

 

There is a place that I adore

It lies to the north off a northern shore

 

Surrounded by a rolling sea

That beckons through my dreams to me

 

Oh Rathlin!  I miss your rugged scene

‘Tis many years since I have been

 

Upon the land where I was born

To welcome the arrival of the morn

 

I left you as an orphan boy

As famine all life did destroy

 

With grip of steel I held the oar

As tears welled up within my core

 

Moving away in that open boat

I felt the sadness in my throat

 

Pulling the oar, less time to think

And then you were gone in just a blink

 

As rain and mist rolled across the sea

Putting a blind between you and me

 

I was lost and devoid of hope

With not a thought how I would cope

 

At first, I wanted to return

Fear drive me on and you to spurn

 

I remained with our lowly band

And we sailed to a far-off land

 

Where I grew up, strong as a tree

On the other side of the Atlantic Sea

 

It was my role to succeed and proper

But it is my boyhood that I foster

 

And to my children I relate

Those bygone days and our fate

 

It is to Rathlin Isle I yearn

To stand beside my Mother’s cairn

 

Monty Alexander 2.2.95

 

 

 

 

 

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